PHILOSOPHIES OF SCIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE
- Overview
- Assessment methods
- Learning objectives
- Contents
- Full programme
- Delivery method
- Teaching methods
- Contacts/Info
There is no prerequisite
The only oral oral final check is planned during which the following will be evaluated:
- the ability to properly understand the reading of a text;
- adequate knowledge of examination texts;
- the ability to develop one's own independent critical reflection.
In the course of the oral interview, the acquisition and correct understanding of the contents of the mandatory texts is to be ascertained and studied in full. Specific questions (at least two) will be asked about the contents of the examination texts, which will cover an assessment of the ability of interdisciplinary critical analysis and autonomy of judgment.
In addition, knowledge of the topics covered in the books of your choice (at least one question) will be required.
The final vote will take into account the accuracy and quality of the responses (70%), as well as the communication skills shown during the interview (10%) and the ability to adequately justify claims, analyses and judgments (20%).
The course aims to define and analyze philosophical reflection with an integrated, historical, philosophical and narrative approach to contemporary, able to deal with, with adequate critical capacity, philosophical themes. For this reason, the course aims to provide the main methodological tools useful for understanding the specific cultural context of the 20th century, fostering a plurality of hermeneutic approaches that, especially in the contemporary age, have philosophical reflection. A special attention will be given to the critical analysis of the texts with the aim of grasping the essential lines, as well as the development of the different conceptual forms and the explicitness of the different categories and the examination of the language used Author taken into account.
Through a direct relationship with the sources (in all its formats) a critical understanding of the texts taken into account is favoured in the learner, favoring a historical and conceptual deepening in comparative and interdisciplinary form as a tool conceptual understanding of the qualifying changes of the contemporary world. This promotes a hermeneutic approach that can adopt forms of analysis and critical skills specific to contemporary philosophical reflection.Learning outcomes include
- knowledge of the conceptual notion of scientific philosophy
- ability to read a text critically, inserting it within its precise theoretical context
- ability to explain the different traditions of thought present within a given theoretical proposal
- ability to grasp the open problems of the texts studied
- ability to apply the acquired knowledge independently, in order to initiate a self-contained critical reflection on the open problems of the contemporary
The course will address the topic of Marx the epistemologist and his conception of scientificity. Specifically, it will analyse Marxian epistemological reflection as it emerges from two of his emblematic and classic texts such as The Communist Party Manifesto (written by Marx in collaboration with Friedrich Engels) and the first book of Capital. Critique of Marx's Political Economy. The study of these texts will then be supplemented with the volume by Fabio Minazzi, Historical-evolutionary epistemology and neo-realism in order to clarify the following conceptual points the relationship between appearance and reality; the existence of matter and the nature of matter; idealism; empiricism; induction; a priori knowledge; the problem of universals; intuition; the relationship between truth and falsehood; the limits of scientific knowledge and the value of epistemological reflection; the relationship between science/philosophy; the role of logical inferences; the role of reason as a privileged instrument for constructing critical reflection.
Reference texts
Mandatory reference texts:
- Karl Marx, Il capitale. Critica dell’economia politica, vol. I, qualunque edizione
- Karl Marx – Freidrich Engels, Il manifesto del partito comunista, qualunque edizione
- F. Minazzi L’epistemologia storico-evolutiva e il neo-realismo logico, Leo S. Olschki, Firenze 2021.
Introductory text: one of your choice
- Roberto Fineschi, Marx, Scholè-Morcellinaa, Brescia 2021, ISBN: 9788828402930
- Hannah Arendt, Karl Marx e la tradizione del pensiero politico occidentale, Raffaello Cortina Editore, Milano 2016, ISBN: 978-88-6030-867-2
- Giuseppe Bedeschi, Introduzione a Marx, Editori Laterza, Roma-Bari 2012, ISBN: 9788842017943
One book of your choice from the following:
- Roberto Fineschi, La logica del capitale.Ripaertire da Marx, Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici Press, Napoli 2021, ISBN: 978-88-97820-66-6
- Kohei Saito, L’ecosocialismo di Karl Marx, Castelvecchi Editore, Roma 2023, ISBN: 978-88-6826-661-5
- Étienne Balibar, Cinque studi di materialismo storico, PGreco, Milano 2021, ISBN: 978-88-6802-394-2
- Domenico Losurdo, Marx e il bilancio storico del Novecento, La scuola di Pitagora Editrice, Napoli 2018, ISBN: 978-88-89579-38-1
- Isaiah Berlin, Karl Marx, Adelphi Edizioni, Milano 2021, ISBN: 978-88-459-3602-9
- André Tosel, Studi su Marx (ed Engels), Edizioni Punto Rosso, Milano 2020, ISBN: 978-8883512544
- Sebastiano Timpanaro, Sul materialismo, Nistri-Lischi, Pisa 19752, terza edizione riveduta ed ampliata, presso le Edizioni Unicopli, Milano 1997, ISBN: 9788840004365.
The training objectives of the course will be achieved through the mode of face-to-face lectures (for a total of 56 hours) involving the analytical and collective discussion of the directly referenced texts, which will be accompanied by a 16-hour seminar workshop expressly dedicated to a shared and collective reflection of the main themes of Marxian scientificity).
There will also be interdisciplinary seminars in 'crossover' mode (i.e. with the presence of other lecturers from the degree course or external guests) in which certain topics covered in class will be explored in depth through different interpretations.